tree forks Scotland - Arb' Association talks..or lack there of..

[ArbMish]

Hello Hello

 

I've been working in the industry for around 3 years now and I'm in my second year of studying Arb' at Inverness Forestry College. I've been a member of the Arboriculture Association for almost two years and it seems to me that we never seem to have any training/workshops/talks etc from the AA North of the central belt. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

As a student/arborist in training I would love to attend many of the events/training that the AA put on but the nearest are in Edinburgh or similar. I'm based out of Aberdeenshire so once you include the cost of the course, travel, accommodation (depending on times) and the loss of a days work then it's just too much money. I know guys working full time who are not happy with this either. So I'm hoping some of you will help me change that...

 

I've been in contact with Duncan Slater about giving his Tree Fork Assessment workshop at the Scottish School of Forestry in Culloden. He is willing to do so but his funding comes from the AA. He has passed me the contact details of the relevant person at the AA so I can request that they put on the workshop. I feel the request will be better received if I already have evidence of a wider interest for the workshop to go ahead.

 

Here's a link to an article about Duncans' work: https://www.trees.org.uk/News-Blog/Branch-News/Assessment-of-Tree-Fork-Workshops-announced

 

One of the guys I work for has been to the workshop and highly recommended it to me, which makes me feel it is worth the effort.

 

If any of you are interested can you comment below so that I can gauge how much support there is for this to go ahead.

 

I feel once we've had a successful workshop we may be able to open the gates for more! I'd love to hear your thoughts either way.

 

Cheers in advance

 

Amy

 

 

 

[Andymacp]

Hi Amy,
I’ve been on this to the AA for years and get the same story back that there’s nothing they can do. They don’t get enough uptake on courses to justify running them.
I would have 2 guys that would go to most courses run up here.

[ArbMish]

Excellent, thanks Andy. I feel like there may be more than the AA think. Especially if we help each other out and car share from places that are further away for instance. Like I said I'm based in Aberdeenshire (I just travel to Culloden to study) so I'd happily take 4 people in my car. 

 

Lets see what happends.

[david wood]

oh oh heres trouble Arbmish.........   

 

 

[ArbMish]

oh oh heres trouble Arbmish.........   
 
 

Haha hey Davie!

[Skyveiw]

now there a name i love hearing good old duncan slater 

 

he was my tudor at college for pest and diease and wow they were some of funny but most techincal lectures i ever had and notes for exam would require a small forest to print off. 

 

he tree fork research is fanstic and well worth amazing what we learn from it

[Gary Prentice]

21 minutes ago, Skyveiw said:

now there a name i love hearing good old duncan slater 

 

he was my tudor at college for pest and diease and wow they were some of funny but most techincal lectures i ever had and notes for exam would require a small forest to print off. 

 

he tree fork research is fanstic and well worth amazing what we learn from it

Really?

 

personally I found him quite likeable, but I think much of the industry are far from convinced about his findings. 

 

what is concerning is a tutor introducing his own research as accepted fact to students, before it is accepted and proven by other researchers in the industry

[Aicchalmers]

I'm also studying there, again traveling each week from Glasgow though so central belt would be possible for me too. I'd be interested in getting more specific arb workshops, so count me in for that but would be interested in other ways of getting courses/cpd units etc that count for something outside of the basic hn framework, which is useful but I came into the course hoping to get a lot more out of it.

I think that it would be possible if there's enough of a 'block' that shows a clear demand to get something from the AA but also have the impression that there's no interest from them in general in Scotland, particularly the North.

[ArbMish]

23 hours ago, EdwardC said:

You can complain to the AA all you like but don't expect them to take any notice. All they're interested in is the south east where they can generate money. To some degree that's fine, but we all pay the same fees so can expect the same benefits. It just doesn't happen though. All the money generation is for the benefit of all the members, not just those down south.

 

 

I agree with you and that's why I'm not putting this forward as a complaint. I'm going to ask the AA to run the workshop and I'm hoping by doing this I can prove that we'll have the numbers to show them that it is worth it. Duncan is on board to do it and I think I have a location sorted as well so it's just down to funding and that comes from the AA.

 

If you know anyone else who would be interested please point them in this direction

[ArbMish]

22 hours ago, Aicchalmers said:

I'm also studying there, again traveling each week from Glasgow though so central belt would be possible for me too. I'd be interested in getting more specific arb workshops, so count me in for that but would be interested in other ways of getting courses/cpd units etc that count for something outside of the basic hn framework, which is useful but I came into the course hoping to get a lot more out of it.

I think that it would be possible if there's enough of a 'block' that shows a clear demand to get something from the AA but also have the impression that there's no interest from them in general in Scotland, particularly the North.

 

Aw awesome! What year are you in? If it's first year..I can tell you it feels like that but you learn more than you would expect for sure! However I do think there could be more, especially on the practical side.

 

Come say hello to me this week..I'm the only girl in the HND year so kinda hard to miss!